Meeting David for the first time...and for the first time again... and farewell to John... 

Dear Bible Challenge participants,

I Samuel is quite an adventure, as we hear the Children of Israel struggle with their desire to have a king just like all the other nations... Samuel urged them to reconsider (Are you sure you want a king....?)  And even Saul seems reluctant--witness him hiding out when Samuel is looking to anoint him.

It doesn't take long for Saul's well-intended rule breaking to make God reconsider, and then Samuel is off to find another king... and we meet David for the first first time as Samuel meets each of Jesse's sons, and God says, "nope, not that one, nor that one.... nor...." till we're left with the youngest, David...

And then we start to see the weaving together of multiple traditions... David is a boy, then we meet David for the second first time, so to speak, as a warrior who plays the harp, then as a boy again when the time comes to slay Goliath--and what a story that is! 

Saul's feelings for David go back and forth as well, and we walk this agonizing journey as Saul struggles, and David flees.

Meanwhile, in the Gospel According to John we have once more walked the journey we traveled during Holy Week, and yesterday concluded with the passage we will hear in church this morning: the Fish Fry on the Beach!  

I love how John reveals himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in the closing words of this Gospel, with the tantalizing words about how there are so many other wonderful stories out there about Jesus and his ministry...but he's shared only these, so that we might believe...

Later this week we will encounter the Davidic Covenant, and begin our reading of Acts, returning to the writings of the Evangelist Luke.  

Thank you, as ever, for being on this journey.

Paige+